Nicole Kidman mesmerises and disturbs in Destroyer

Nicole Kidman channels Dirty Harry in this gritty police drama. It’s a performance that mesmerises and disturbs, pretty much in equal measure.

Vicky Roach

The Sunday TelegraphMarch 16, 20193:00pm

Nicole Kidman on playing Erin Bell

January 30, 2019. Australian actress Nicole Kidman speaks to AAP in Sydney on Monday. Kidman was attending the Australian premiere of her movie ‘Destroyer’ at the St. George OpenAir Cinema on Sydney Harbour. Destroyer tracks the story of LAPD detective Erin Bell, who as a young cop was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert. The 51-year-old said she had been enthralled in playing the dark, troubled character of Los Angeles detective Erin Bell in Destroyer. &quot;I'm constantly trying to stay engaged and vibrant and curious with what I do and this character was something that sort of ignited all of that and I went great lengths do it,&quot; Kidman said. &quot;As an actor that's what I do, I have to put myself into the shoes of this other person, I have to become her.&quot; (AAP Video/Tom Rabe/Iain Boyd).

DESTROYER (MA15+)

Three and a half

Director: Karyn Kusama

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Scoot McNairy

Running time: 121 minutes

Verdict: Go ahead, make Nicole Kidman’s day

Nicole Kidman channels Dirty Harry in this gritty police drama. It’s a performance that mesmerises and disturbs, pretty much in equal measure.

Bad cops don’t come much more morally compromised than Erin Bell, a lone wolf with dead eyes, hollow cheeks and a convincing limp.

Scarred — beyond repair — by an undercover job that went wrong, the LAPD detective is fuelled by a toxic cocktail of anger, guilt and self-loathing.

Her relationship with her body is neglectful to the point of outright self-harm.

And that emotional and physical numbness extends to her teenage daughter (Jade Pettyjohn), whose upbringing Bell has entrusted to her ex (Scoot McNairy), for good reason.

As a character, Bell teeters on the edge of distortion, and that’s what makes her so fascinating.

Is she credible — as a woman, a mother, a cop?

Nicole Kidman as lone wolf Erin Bell in Destroyer.Source:Supplied

Is the performance unsettling because Kidman is impersonating rather than inhabiting a male role?

Should female filmmakers be reinventing the genre rather than remixing it?

These are all valid questions.

But actor and director hold their course with such conviction their audience is compelled to go along for the ride.

Structurally, Destroyer is similarly bold.

The story begins with a dead body, an inked banknote, and an untraceable gun.

Bell, who has clearly spent the night in her car, stumbles into the crime scene, drunk and disoriented.

It’s not her jurisdiction and she’s clearly not welcome.

Nicole Kidman in a scene from Destroyer.Source:Supplied

In a parting shot, she tells the officer-in-charge that she knows the identity of his John Doe’s killer, but then refuses to divulge it.

What follows is a complex series of clues, fragments and flashbacks — to Bell’s early career as an undercover cop in an operation designed to bring down a Charles Manson-like crime figure (Toby Kebbell) — that only add up in the final few frames.

Another inked note, sent to Bell in an envelope, lets her know that her old nemesis has resurfaced, after a 15-year hiatus.

He’s taunting her.

Battle-hardened and with nothing left to lose, this time, Bell is determined to bring him to justice.

While the merciless avenger is operating under a scorched earth policy, the film still has a twist or two up its sleeve.